A Mombasa lawyer is under scrutiny for his involvement in a Ksh1.1 billion land deal with a Chinese construction firm that went south.
Stephen Kithi Ngombo was charged in court for trying to acquire money from China Wu Yi Kenya Limited, pretending he could sell them land belonging to the Tourism Finance Corporation.
The court papers indicated that that the advocate sought Ksh1.09 billion from the construction company on July 30, 2016.
He was also charged with obtaining Ksh20 million from the firm.
The prosecution told the court that Ngombo, under false pretense, acquired the money on April 18, 2017, as part of the payment to secure the land.
Appearing before Senior Resident Magistrate Rita Amwayi, the advocate denied the accusations.
He petitioned the court to postpone the plea hearing to allow for the determination of another case he had filed with the High Court.
Justice Amwayi denied the request, stating that she had not received any order from the High Court blocking the pleading.
"There is nothing tabled before me to enable this court to defer plea-taking," Justice Amwayi stated.
Ngombo was released on a Ksh500,000 cash bail, which he paid and left.
The criminal charges against the Mombasa-based lawyer arose from a prior civil suit that had been filed against him. In 2019, China Wu Yi took him to court seeking a refund of Ksh20 million paid to him, so they would buy another land.
The firm also sought a Ksh5.8 million refund from the lawyer, which they claimed they had spent as legal fees on the botched land acquisition. The firm claimed that they entered into an agreement with Ngomo on July 30, 2016, who had agreed to sell them a parcel of land.
The record indicates that the lawyer was contracting in his capacity as a beneficial owner of the land, after allegedly acquiring permission to sell the land on behalf of the rightful owner.
They agreed on Ksh1.2 billion for the land and the lawyer would ensure the land is vacated and all establishments removed upon payment of a deposit.
China Wu Yi states that they paid the lawyer Ksh121 million which was 10 percent of the total agreed amount. The deposit was made to a joint account held by lawyers from both parties.
"On April 11, 2017, at the defendant request, the plaintiff through its advocates released Ksh20 million out of the deposit paid to be utilised for the purpose of vacant possession," the suit papers read in part.
The firm indicated that they required Ngombo to nominate it as the transferee to enable the registered owner to initiate a transfer process for the land, but it was never done.
'Instead, the defendant introduced a third party by the name of Propken (Mauritius) Ltd who purportedly had the transferee's rights to the property," China Wu Yi claimed in their suit.
The firm accused Ngombo of being fraudulent and dishonest, stating that if he would have presented all the facts prior to signing the agreement, it would have refrained from the deal.
"To date, the defendant has not refunded the amount despite the agreement requiring a refund of all sums paid to the vendor immediately," the suit documents state in part.
